Organisation

It is Novamedia’s ambition to be – with the lotteries - a loyal financer that provides long-term support for charities. Moreover, we would like to generate more income every year so that we can support even more social initiatives with our Charity Lotteries. The graphs show the turnover and contribution to society of all lotteries using Novamedia’s lottery formats.

Supervisory Board

Supervisory Board

Ms G.A. Verbeet (Chair)

Mr R.F. van den Bergh

Mr J.A. van den Ende

Mr G.P. Prein

The Supervisory Board manages the policy implemented by the Executive Board and the general running of the Novamedia holding company and its affiliated companies.

Guided by the interests of Novamedia Holding BV, the Supervisory Board advises the Executive Board and approves the annual budget and major investments.

The board

Our executive board is responsible for the daily management of Novamedia and its affiliated companies.

Organisational charts

Revenue from licence fees

Novamedia is the owner, “developer” and investor in lottery concepts with which successful charity lotteries have been established and implemented worldwide to raise funds for charities. Novamedia asks a licence fee for the use of these brands and formats by third parties. This fee is used to recoup the high investment required to set up a lottery. After all, Novamedia bears the financial risks. The fees are also used for the (continued) development of its formats. Novamedia receives these fees from charity lotteries in the Netherlands and abroad. The amount of licence fee differs from country to country, partly depending on the local situation. As the operator, Novamedia is also responsible for managing the lottery in all of these countries. The structure of the organisation, and thus the management fee, differs according to the country.

50% of the revenue from ticket sales to the charitiesIn Great Britain, the format licence fee of People’s Postcode Lottery is 4% of the revenue of the lottery. Management support provided by Novamedia is recharged, to a maximum of 1% of People’s Postcode Lottery revenue. The combined licence and administration fee of the Swedish Postcode Lottery is 4.08% of the revenue. For the Dutch lotteries working with Novamedia’s brands and formats, the percentage of the licence fee is 2.05% of the lottery’s revenue. In the Netherlands, Novamedia receives a fixed, index-linked annual fee for managing the three lotteries. This was €848,000 in 2016. Novamedia also guarantees the obligation of the three Dutch lotteries to pay out 50% of the revenue from ticket sales to the charities. Unforeseen financial setbacks leaving less than 50% of the revenue available for charities have to be covered by Novamedia.

Percentages are comparatively lowIn 2012, F.W. Grosheide, Emeritus Professor of Private Law/Intellectual Property Law (for the Netherlands, at the request of the Dutch Postcode Lottery) and in 2014 Jan Rosén, Professor of Private Law at the University of Stockholm (for Sweden, at the request of Novamedia) were asked to give an opinion on the market conformity of fees in the Netherlands and Sweden. Both concluded that the percentages are comparatively low. This was also the conclusion reached by the accountancy firm KPMG in 2013 in a study in the Netherlands commissioned by the Dutch Gaming Authority.

Governance at Novamedia

Safeguarding social relevance for the future

In view of the overwhelming success of the charity lotteries that use Novamedia formats in the Netherlands and abroad, and the major social relevance resulting from this, we think that it is essential to safeguard the social role of Novamedia for the future.

It would not be wise for Novamedia shares to be able to fall into the hands of third parties such as foreign investors or commercial gambling companies. Novamedia’s vision and mission (the world benefits from strong social organisations; we raise funds for these organisations and raise awareness of their work) might then be lost.

In 2008, that insight led to the decision that it would not be desirable to let Novamedia shares remain in private hands after the death or retirement of the current shareholders and founders. It would be better if Novamedia, and the lotteries, ended up in the hands of a General Interest (Algemeen Belang) foundation. This became the Novamedia Foundation Trust.